useum of the Rockies will open its doors free of charge to all Museum Day ticketholders on Saturday, September 18, 2021, as part of Smithsonian magazine’s 17th annual Museum Day, a national celebration of boundless curiosity in which participating museums emulate the free admission policy at the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington DC-based museums. The annual event allows museums, zoos, and cultural centers to emulate the spirit of the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington, D.C.-based facilities, which offer free admission every day. This year’s event is sponsored by The Quaker Oats Company. Museum Day goes beyond getting visitors through museum doors, it acts as a springboard to empower and help advance the hopes and ambitions of the public, particularly school-aged children and those in underrepresented communities. It represents a national commitment to access, equity and inclusion. With many public spaces being shut down for a year or more, Museum Day 2021 celebrates the reopening of museums after long closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s theme, Experience America, represents the return to, and resurgence of, our country's diverse cultural experiences, in the safest possible way. While tickets will be free of charge, participating museums will have safety precautions in place for this year’s event so guests can safely and comfortably enjoy their experience. View The Vikings Begin, explore our primary exhibition halls, or take in a Taylor Planetarium show on this day. Given the elevated rate of transmission of COVID-19 and its variants in our community, Montana State University is recommending that all individuals - vaccinated or not - wear face masks or coverings indoors on campus. Museum Day tickets are available for download at Smithsonianmag.com/MuseumDay. Visitors who present a Museum Day ticket will gain free entrance for two on September 18, 2021. One ticket is permitted per email address. For more information, please visit Smithsonianmag.com/MuseumDay.